No 25. Term 4 Week 11, 16th December 2020

Principal News

As the 2020 school year draws to a close, I would like to express my appreciation and genuine admiration to the amazing St. Kevin's community. My first year of principalship here will be one I won't forget in a hurry, not becasue of the challenges of the global health emergency, but becasue of the warm, welcoming and supportive community that I have truly fallen in love with.

As we close the year, I must express my gratitude to the  highly skilled, dedicated and compassionate staff whom I am privileged to work with. They are an incredible team of passionate educators who throughout all of the trials the year, consistently put the best interests of every student in our care at the heart of every decision and action. They impress and astound me each and every day.

I also have to express my admiration and excitement for the incredible work, that you the parents have put into supporting your children and their teachers while the children were learning remotely. It was a big ask to be a full time parent and work and support your child's learning. It was a tough few months but we are grateful for your partnership becauase we couldn't have managed what we did without you.

Lastly I have to acknowledge these wonderful kids we are blessed to call our students. They didn't ask to be stuck at home for months on end. They didn't ask to miss out on the excursions, the time with friends or sporting events. Nevertheless, they gave us all a master lesson in perserverance and resilience. Their thirst for  learning and drive to be the best they can be was truly inspirational and they have done their school and Principal very proud.

2020 has not been an easy year, but at St. Kevin's we stand together with hope and pride in all we do. Together, we defied the odds and not only held our community together, we brought it closer.

May the birth of Christ bring you and your family much joy and promise this Christmas and New Year and I look forward to doing it all again with you in 2021.

God bless.

Jason Micallef,
Principal

A letter from Archbishop Peter

Archbishop Peter has written to our school community with a reflection on the year that has passed, and an introduction to Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Ltd (MACS) and its role in governing and operating schools.

Central to the Archbishop’s reflection is our collaboration with parents over the last year and he looks forward to the continuation of this through the School Advisory Councils, which will establish MACS as a truly collaborative organisation.

Return to school reminders

The Summer holidays are here but don't forget these important dates about the first few weeks of school:

Preps

• Thursday January 28 - Scheduled classroom visits to meet teachers and spend time in the classroom. 
• Friday January 29 - First day of school for Prep (finishing at 1:30pm)
• Monday Feb 1, Tuesday Feb 2, Thursday Feb 4, Friday Feb 6 - Preps finish at 1:30pm
• Wednesday Feb 3 - Rest day for Preps (no school)

Year 1-6

• Thursday January 28 and Friday January 29 - Scheduled testing days. 
• Monday February 1 - First full day for students

Whole school Mass

• Our first whole school Mass to open the school year will take place on Friday Feb 5 at 11:45am.

Our Teaching Team for 2021

After introducing our children to their 2021 teachers on Monday, we are now ready to unveil our entire 2021 teaching team.

Prep Team

• [PKK] Mrs Kydas (leader) & Mrs Borthwick
• [PCA] Mrs Cardamone & Mrs Borthwick
• [PDE] Mrs DeVisser
• [PEA] Mrs Eades (Formerly Miss A) & Mrs Blake

We welcome Mrs Borthwick back to the team from maternity leave. Mrs Borthwick will teach for a day each week in PKK and a day each week in PCA. She will also spend two half days each week supporting students across the level.

Junior Team (1/2)

• [1/2FE] Mrs Fernandez (leader) & Mrs Williams
• [1/2RO] Mrs Rovers
• [1/2AG] Mrs Lenard & Mrs Williams
• [1/2LO] Mrs LoRosso
• [1/2HE] Mrs Hettiarachichi
• [1/2DC] Mrs DeReus & Mrs Castillo

Mrs Schendel will remain a member of the junior team as a support teacher until she begins maternity leave part way through term 1. We say a fond farewell to Mrs Mackay who will be leaving us at the end of the year to spend time preparing for the arrival of her baby.

Middle Team (3/4)

• [3/4PE] Mrs Petkovic (leader) & Mrs O'Halloran
• [3/4FO] Mrs Fonseca
• [3/4TI] Mrs Timothy
• [3/4DM] Mrs D'Monte
• [3/4BB] Mrs Brobyn & Mrs Bonato
• [3/4MG] Mrs McGookin
  

Senior Team (5/6)

• [5/6DA] Mrs Dawson (leader) & Mrs Robinson 
• [5/6LN] Mrs Northcott
• [5/6SP] Miss Poxon
• [5/6BU] Miss Buttigieg
• [5/6ME] Mrs Meechan & Mrs Donald
• [5/6MB] Ms McLeod & Mrs Broadhurst

We welcome Miss Poxon to our school who will be replacing Mrs Gage as a senior teacher. Mrs Gage will be commencing her tenure as Co-Deputy Principal in 2021. We also welcome back Mrs Donald who will return in term 3 to share teaching responsibilities with Mrs Meechan.

Specialist Teachers

• Physical Education - Mrs Langdon (P-2) & Mrs Wilson (3-6)
• Performing Arts - Mrs Szabo (P-6)
• Visual Arts - Mrs Cid (P-2) & Mrs Galway (3-6)
• Indonesian - Mrs Luna (P-2) & Mrs Pratt (3-6)
• STEM (Scince / Technology / Engineering / Maths) - Mrs Kroenert

We welcome Mrs Kroenert to our school who will be teaching a new specialist program for all our students. Mrs Lawson will move into a teaching support role in the junior school for first term before retiring at the end of term.

CONGRATULATIONS to Miss A (Prep AT) who became Mrs Eades over the weekend. After a tumultuous year of postponed plans and uncertainty, we are delighted to celebrate the marriage of Alanna Athanasiou to Jack Eades, who over the weekend exchanged vowes and formalised their committment to each other. We wish Alanna and husband Jack all the happiness in the world as they begin their life together as husband and wife.

What an Achievement!

Meet Jolene, one of our grade six graduands. Jolene started swimming at the age of 4 after saying to her mum, "Mum you know that diploma that you can get at Paul saddler? Well I am going to get it." Jolene's mum reminded her that it takes a lot of hard work but Jolene's response?..."I know mum and I will get it before I finish primary school!"

Well, here we are three years down the track and Jolene finally achieved her goal. Qualifiying for the Diploma in November 2019. Unfortunately due to Covid, her graduation ceremony was sadly cancelled earlier this year. Since then, Jolene set herself a new goal to make it as a District swimmer. She was only 4 seconds off the mark before we all went into lockdown. Now that we are open again, Jolene is back on the ball again and training like there's no tomorrow.

We think Jolene is a star! With such amazing grit and determination, Jolene is a role model for all our students and is a great example of what can be achieved when we set our minds to a task. Well done Jolene!

Farewell Grade 6's

Yesterday we honoured our grade 6 children and their families as we prepared to say farewell and good luck as they begin their next stage of formal schooling in 2021. It was a beautiful sacramental celebration with Mass in the church pre-recorded for family viewing in the evening. As we watched the celebration played back on Youtube, you could feel the students' excitement and imagine them poised as they would have savoured the pride from their families and reflected on their years of primary school. From our perspective, it is both sad and satisfying to see our most senior students finish their time with us. They are an amazing group of children and we wish them all the very best. We thank our staff and parents who worked together to make  their final moments of primary school special.

You can view the Graduation Mass and Awards Conferring Ceremony below.

More farewells

The end of the year brings with it the reality of having to farewell more loved members of our school community.

We wish Mrs Mackay all the very best as she embarks on her journey toward and into motherhood. We thank Mrs Mackay for her passion and commitment during her time with us and look forward to hearing some wonderful news of the arrival her new baby very soon.

We also say fond farewell to those families who due to circumstance, are moving on and making a new home in an equally amazing school. We thank you for being a part of our school and now that we are indeed a better community for having had you with us. 

Finally, we say thank you and goodbye to Fr. Dong our assistant priest and member of the St. Kevin's Parish for the last two years. Fr Dong is moving to the parish of St. Andrew's, Werribee.  We will miss Fr. Dong and wish him all the best.

...and so as we say goodbye, we wish upon you God's blessings and a peaceful transition to new beginnings and know in your heart that even though you may be somewhere else, we will always see you as St. Kevin's.